Chair



M. E. MOXLEY Oct. 9, 1962 CHAIR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 27, 1960 Oct. 9, 1962 M. E. MOXLEY 3,057,661

CHAIR Filed June 27, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

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United States Patent ()filice 3,057,661 Patented Oct. 9, 1962 3,057,661 CHAIR Murray E. Moxley, Geneva, Ill., assignor to Acme Steel Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed June 27, 1960, Ser. No. 38,805 1 Claim. (Cl. 297-451) This invention relates to chairs and particularly to an improved chair having shipping and storage advantages.

Because of the high costs of packaging and shipping materials, effort is constantly made to provide improved methods of packaging in order to minimize the size of the package required and therefore minimize the storage andshipping costs. The problem is especially prevalent when shipping objects such as chairs where the ordinary shape of the chair in its assembled form occupies a relatively large space volume but is of a small actual volume of materials. It is therefore the principal object of this invention to provide an improved chair construction whereby a conventional type chair can be folded into a compact unit which occupies a minimum of space and, so, can be shipped and stored in smaller packaged units.

It is another object of the'invention to provide such an improved folding chair which can be stacked conveniently with other folded chairs to further provide a compact, convenient and economical manner of storage and shipment.

It is still another object of the invention to provide such a folded chair which has special means for facilitating the folding of the chair, but which is entirely concealed when the chair is in its final assembled form so that there is no indication that the chair is of a foldable type which might otherwise detract from its appearance.

Other objects and advantages of the invention should be apparent upon reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a conventional type chair embodying the improvements of this invention;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the same chair as shown in FIG. 1 except that the seat pad is removed and certain folded positions of the seat back are shown in dotted lines;

FIG. 3 shows the chair of FIG. 1 in its completely folded position ready for shipment or storage;

FIG. 4 shows a plurality of the folded chairs of FIG. 3 in stacked positions;

FIG. 5 shows a side elevation of the chair partially cutaway and in partial section and shows the seat back in dotted lines in a partially folded and a completely folded position; and

FIG. 6 shows a sectional view along the line 6--6 and shows a fragmentary portion of the frame of the chair in partial cross section.

As shown in FIG. 1, the chair in which the improvements of this invention are shown consists of a tubular metal frame 1 provided with a back cushion 2 and a seat cushion 3. The frame 1 consists of a base 4 having four legs 5, 6, 7 and 8 which normally rest at their ends on the floor or other supporting surface. This base 4 is formed by joining together two inverted U-shaped members 9 and 10 by means of two parallel connecting bars 11 and 12. These U-shaped members have top horizontal portions 13 and 14 which connect between the legs 6, 7, and 5, 8, respectively. As shown in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6, these top horizontal portions 13 and 14 are each provided with an aperture 15 into which an outwardly directed end 16 is projected. Each of these ends 16 is connected on a radius 17 to an L-shaped arm 18, two of which are used to support the back cushion 2. The upper ends 19 of the L-shaped arms 18 project into the back cushion 2 in order to support the cushion 2. With the L-shaped arms 18 secured into the back cushion 2 the cushion and the two L-shaped arms together form a rigid frame construction. Since both of the L-shaped arms 18 have their ends 16 in apertures 15 of the top horizontal portions 14, the back cushion 2 and the L- shaped arms 18 are free to be rotated in the direction of the arrow 20 from a position as shown in bold outline in FIGS. 2 and 5 through an intermediate position shown in dotted lines at 21 to a final position shown in phantom lines at 22.

For storage and shipment, the chair is preferably folded in partially disassembled form as shown in FIG. 3. The seat cushion 3 is removed and positioned within the confines of the four legs of the chair and the back cushion 2 is folded around against the two front legs 7 and 8. When the chair is to be packaged it can be placed in a carton or other shipping container of much smaller volume than the one which would be required to contain the chair in the form as it is shown in FIG. 1.

When shipping more than one chair, the chairs can be stacked as shown in FIG. 4 with the frame 1 stacked one upon the other. It should be noted that the legs 7 and 8 are canted outwardly with respect to the legs 5 and 6 so that this stacking can occur. Similarly, the seat cushions 3 are stacked within the confines of the positions of the legs of the chairs. Obviously such a stack of chairs as shown in FIG. 4 can be positioned in smaller containers than would be required for a plurality of the assembled chair of FIG. 1, regardless of how the chairs of FIG. 1 are stacked, and the stacking arrangements of the assembled chairs of FIG. 1 are definitely limited.

After the stacked disassembled chairs are removed from their container in readiness for assembly into the form shown in FIG. 1, the back cushion and its associated L-shaped arms 18 are pivoted from the position as shown at 2,2 to the position as shown in bold outline in FIG. 5. The L-shaped arms 18 are arrested in their travel by means of the crossbar 11 which provides support for the L-shaped arms 18. Next, the seat cushion 3 is positioned on the top horizontal members 14 and the L- shaped arms 18 where it is held by means of screws 23 which are secured to it through holes 24 in both the members 14 and the L-shaped arms 18. At this time the chair is in its final assembled form of FIG. 1 and ready for use.

What has been shown is what may be considered a conventional type chair embodying improvements which allow the chair to be semi-disassembled for economical shipment and storage and then readily assembled to final form in a relatively simple and efiicient manner and there is no indication in the finally assembled chair that it is of a collapsible nature.

Although only a single embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it should be understood that the invention can be manufactured in many different ways without departing from the true scope of the invention as defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

A chair comprising, a base for supporting a seat, said base having two laterally spaced top members secured to four downwardly extending supporting legs spaced at approximately the four corners of the base, two of the legs being the front legs and the other two being the rear legs, a back rest frame, said back rest frame having two approximately parallel spaced arms with outwardly and oppositely directed inner ends, said ends fitting in oppositely positioned blind recesses in the top members and intermediate the ends of said top members to provide a pivotal connection of the back rest frame on the base with no visual exposure of the pivotal connection when viewed from the sides of the chair, the two spaced arms being L-shaped and supporting a back rest on their outer ends, said back rest frame being pivotal between a first position with the back rest in approximately the plane of the two front legs of the base and a second position with the back rest frame extending approximately vertically from the rear of said base, a stop member mounted in the space between the two rear legs for contact with the L-shaped arms of the back rest frame for determination of the second position of the back rest frame, means for securely fastening a seat in a fixed position to the upper portions of the spaced top members of the base to securely block the pivotal movement of the back rest frame and maintain it fixed in its second position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Miller Apr. 25, Guild et a1. Nov. 2, Reichman Jan. 13, Mende Dec. 14, Chapman May 24, Lisi Sept. 13, Chapman May 29, Straub Nov. 20,

FOREIGN PATENTS Switzerland Oct. 17, France June 16, France Feb. 8, 

